Lace Music Products Blue Sensor

This is a passive pickpup, single coil size, and although Lace technology differs from the standard, can replace any pickup without any additional modification. 12K impedance, so it??s not only hotter than the standard single coil but it??s also darker, almost like a humbucker

Stock pickups sound thin, weak, noiser, compared to these Lace Sensor.
I installed the Blue Sensor on my Standard Stratocaster (actually becoming a Frankesteincaster, considering I??ve replace the neck, saddles, pickpus and some pots.
A Blue Sensor on bridge and a Red Sensor on neck.
I??ve tried the Sensors since they were used on the Fender StratPlus in the late eighties and love their sound and hum-free quality.
I??ve installed the Sensors on my Standard Stratocaster (actually becoming a Frankesteincaster, considering I??ve replaced the neck, saddles, pickpus and some pots).I??ve modified the wiring so the tone control 1 affects the bridge pickup instead of the one in the middle. Tone control 2 reamins unchanged, affecting the neck pickup.
Eric Clapton was one of the most famous users of Sensors pickpus in the late 80??s and early 90??s Buddy Guy still use them.
Almost any pickup replacement upgrades the guitar sounds considerably, DiMarzio, SeymourDuncan, EMG, RioGrande, etc, and so do Lace Sensors, and at very affordable price.

Installed the Blue first in the Neck position, it sounds dark for my taste on clean modes (but perfect for jazz style) but once you turn on the overdrive/distortion this baby really sings, lot of mids,thick and creamy tone, nice sustain, perfect for blues, rock.
I play a lot clean/neck and like brighter tone than the Blue can deliver on this mode (????ve never tried replacing the 250k pot for a 500k which will probably get brighter tone). I ended up installing a Red Sensor on neck, clean/bright and distorted/thick/creamy.
Blue Sensor was installed on Bridge and I love the sound on both clean and distorted modes. Bridge pickpus usually have the thinner and weaker sound (mainly because on smaller string??s amplitude vibration) but the Blue Sensor compensate very well because is hotter and its darker sound compensate the thin and brighter natural sound on this position. No wonder why Fender used the Blue Sensor on bridge position when they launched the StratPlus Deluxe (it had Silver Sensors on middle and neck).
The Red Sensor also sounds very good on bridge position, very bright and loud on clean modes (but not thicker than the Blue I think) and loud full bodied on distortion, but I prefer the Blue on bridge.
Both the Blue and Red are noiseless even on distorted modes.
I play Rock/Blues and some Jazzy tunes, so I love a clean sound as much as full distortion.

I??ve been playing for 25 years, mainly on small bar/clubs. I??ve played through valve and solid state amps (Fender, Peavey, Crate, Carvin, Roland, etc). Currently I??m using a Behringer V-AMP rack preamp modeler, Cry-Baby Wah, running directly to a Mackie mixer and a Crate (solid state) power amp. Once in a while I use a BBE preamp (with built-in sonic maximizer) in front of the V-AMP.
If this pickups were stolen I would buy again a Red Sensor for neck and a Blue Sensor or (Seymour Duncan??s) JB Jr. for bridge.

Humbucking single coil??? Don;t really know but it comes with three wires. 12K++

Kramers striker. Neck. Replacement for DiMarzio HS-3. Eric Clapton I guess. I have another guitar fitted with a Lace sensor red and I like its sound. Very stratty yet fat.

The output will blow you away. Middy but stratty. Rock/metal etc. Very suitable for neck position and maybe if you have three of these, can be dropped in all positions.

I'll kill the bastard that will steal it.

Pickup features: passive
Impedence or other specs: not sre

Model of guitar or bass: Fender '57 reissue strat
Position: middle
Pickup being replaced: gold lace sensor
Other pickups on guitar: Fast Track 2 and Hot Rails
Artists using this pickup: me
You musical style(s): Britpop, indie rock, alternative, blues rock
Reason for pickup change: wanted more power but not humbucker power

Perceived output level: this is why I decied to do the review. there's no volume drop between this blue lace and hotrails!!!!
Tone: a little middy, but not muddy. very stratty.
Sonic evaluation: I'm playing a '57 reissue strat with a Crate tube amp. ok, those who complain this is a muddy pickup, listen up. I used to think it was dark and muddy until I changed pots to 500k, and now it's warm and sparkly! very stratty. so if you have a blue lace sensor lying around, try this mod now!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: neck for jazz, mid for blues / rock / clean arpeggios

Comments: I might get this picup again if I could find a used one cheap. I've been playing for over 15 years. this strat is my main axe, I have a backup epi les paul that sucks big time. I'm a big fan of Clapton, but I still prefer the blue sensor to the gold one. hot rails in bridge and blue lace in middle is the perfect combo for me so far. I'm reasonably happy with Fast Rrack 2 in neck. with 250k pots, I'd rate 5, but with 500k pots, 9! I can't give 10 yet until I tried a Kinman pickup.

Pickup features: stacked humbucker
Impedence or other specs: not sure

Model of guitar or bass: jackson outcaster
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: jonny greenwood currently, billy corgan formerly
You musical style(s): rock...alternative, classic, indie, etc
Reason for pickup change: needed a neck pickup, wanted "that jonny g sound"

Perceived output level:
Tone: balanced, sweet midrange, a bit round, focused, chimey (this is with 500K pots!!!)
Sonic evaluation: in a guitar I got really cheap, that needed electronics. I tried this in a strat a few years ago, with 250K pots, and it was too dark to be usable to me...but apparently a lot of people like that sound. flash ahead to now... with 500K pots, it sounds really, really good. but you'll have to use other pickups in your guitar that work well with 500Ks. could be the guitar, could be the pickups, but the sound is very "clean" and smooth. I used to think it lacked "body" but at higher volumes I think I quite like it. (the neck on this guitar is super thin so that might be part of it...i'd like to change the neck). it's a sound I haven't heard from any other guitar I've owned. actually it is sort of reminiscent of my ibanez talman with dearmond 2k pickups, and a bit like my gretsch pro jet, but a bit cleaner, less mean. an interesting and usable sound, I'm not sure if I'll always like it, but sometimes I really do, especially on the wound strings, up the neck a bit

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: not a plinky or pingy pickup...quite dark with 250k pots

Comments: I'd like to try some lace, maybe this one, in the neck of a telecaster

Pickup features: Single coil hum-canceling
Impedence or other specs: 12.8k resistance

Model of guitar or bass: '93 Fender Strat Plus Deluxe w/hardtail Mex body. (tremolo? yuck!)
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Lace Sensor Gold
Other pickups on guitar: Seymour Duncan Hot-Rails (bridge), Lace Sensor Gold (middle)
Artists using this pickup: Some - who cares anyway
You musical style(s): Blues-Rock-Metal
Reason for pickup change: The Hot-rails made the whole guitar bridge-heavy.. winding it back helps but not really that much.. wanted to get something warm for a smooth Iron Maiden-style solo tone.

Perceived output level: Warm. Doesn't sound like 12k. Not really that much hotter than the Gold which is 5.7k
Tone: Very warm bottom end, balanced mids and a sprinkling of glass. In my opinion the best of the PAF with the best of the strat pickups.
Sonic evaluation: Played through a Marshall TSL100-4x12cab. I do like the Fender amps clean tone but if you spend time with the Marshall it is easy to find an equally clear tone. My FX chain is: guitar>boss-tu2-tuner>morley-wah>marshall-guv'nor-mk1>rozz(never heard of rozz? sounds alright tho!)chorus>boss-cs3-compressor. Naturally the pickup was tested cleanly straight into the amp.. and sounds really great. In my experience lace have never been a company to decieve you with their descriptions of the sonic properties of a pickup. This certainly is warm and I would agree for the most part that it is a nice cross between the old PAF sound and that strat 'glass'. I really like the tone myself, distorted it produces a wonderful Hendrix tone.. use my wah and I'm all "purple haze".. For this it is a great choice. Clean it really comes alive when I use a smattering of reverb and chorus. Unfortunately it hasn't given me the warm lead tone I was looking for.. it is okay for this if you roll the tone back, but alas the sustain is not enough. I found a neck-specific hot rails so I'm hoping to put this in and achieve what I'm after.. although taking this pickup out almost feels like a bad idea. I think I will try it in the middle position, see how it quacks at positions 2 and 4.. as it's a tone I really don't want to lose.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Blues-Rock-Metal. Not great for metal. Great for classic rock.. Ideal for blues. Not quite middy or punchy enough for jazz.

Comments: This is a great pickup. It doesn't do exactly what I was looking for but it does do alot of other things that I really like. It may not stay on this guitar but I shall certainly keep it as part of my tone arsenal. In my experience Lace sensors are really very clear and true sounding pickups. For recording and acoustic-style songs they shine, although I have found in a live band situation they can fall a little weak and can sound a little processed or compressed. Even though they nearly perfectly reproduce the tones that people are always trying to get they don't sound entirely authentic. I can't put my finger on it, but they certainly don't sound "real" like a true single-coil pickup.
Also, noiseless they are not.. but a huge great improvement over a standard coil. I like Lace pickups and always consider them when looking for something new in my sound. Certainly this Blue sensor will remain with me unless I find something I prefer. I give this pickup an 8/10 - even though it didn't do what I wanted it certainly is a good pickup and is worth considering.

Pickup features: Single Coil (passive)
Impedence or other specs: 12.8K

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Strat mix
Position: middle
Pickup being replaced: Stock
Other pickups on guitar: Duncan Alnico II Pro (bridge), Duncan Duckbucker (neck)
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Blues
Reason for pickup change: Purchased Blue for bridge possition and found it to transparent. Decided to try it at the middle position.

Perceived output level: Never was a fan of the middle PU but the Blue provides a great transparent boost to the low output NECK Duckbucker.
Tone: Neutral and transparent
Sonic evaluation: Fender Strat (pieced together) with different amps. Clean channel with a bith of gain from a Boss Blues Driver.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play Blues but this PU is NOT meant for blues. It simply a great boost or a neutral sounding PU.

Comments: Unless you get a middle coil that is of the same manufacturer and type as your neck PU you won't get that perfect match. The Sensor Blue will work with any low output neck PU. It's nothing fancy but it does a particular job very well. I give it a 7 because it's not what it's advertised to be.

Pickup features: single passive
Impedence or other specs: .

Model of guitar or bass: parker p-38
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: stock neck
Other pickups on guitar: EMG 89 bridge , stock middle , piezo
Artists using this pickup: jonny greenwood of radiohead
You musical style(s): .
Reason for pickup change: i wasn't getting much smoothness from the stock

Perceived output level: a little less than stock
Tone: bassy, smooth, slightly muddy
Sonic evaluation: setup:
parker >
AKAI shred-o-matic > home made fuzz > boss ge-7 EQ > AKAI headrush >
between amps at the moment. i'm playing a practice amp right now, but i have access to other amps.
this is very good distorted or overdrived. very smooth, and you can do 'american woman' very nicely. clean, it's slightly muddy. it should really have more treble. that would balance it out quite nicley. infact, it's the opposite to the stock one it replaced

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: .

Comments: an idea that i've had, is to leave the lace where it is, then put my original stock in next to it on the bridge side. this would act as a humbucker, and give some very nice tonal ranges is the neck.
if it were stolen, i'd try soemthing else... or put my stock back in.
a 5. meh.

Pickup features: Single coil passive
Impedence or other specs: Huh?

Model of guitar or bass: Godin LGT
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Stock Godin Pickups - bought my guitar just before Godin put Duncans in as stock (damn)!
Other pickups on guitar: Middle - Gold Sensor, Bridge - Don Lace D-150
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Rock / Alternative
Reason for pickup change: Original neck pickup had no character whatsoever. Did a lot of homework in researching all types of pickups. Had it between Lace Sensors or Duncans. Went with Lace Sensors because I found them in the store first and was desparate to replace my stock pickups as quickly as possible.

Perceived output level: Lot more than stock, but very balanced with middle and bridge pu's.
Tone: Bassy, clear
Sonic evaluation: With my previous guitar ('72 Thinline Telecaster Re-issue), I played almost exclusively in the neck position. With my current setup, I don't like the sound of the Blue sensor on it's own. The tone seems to be choked off a bit too much - like its congested or something. The middle Gold pickup, however, adds just enough sparkle to spring the sound to life and allowing the natural harmonics within each chord to breathe. It also sounds great when combined with with the Don Lace D-150 humbucker that I have in the bridge position.
I also find all my AGI pickups GREAT since I work a lot with computer recording software (Guitar Studio)through a Line 6 POD, and these pickups are really versatile in working with all the amp/effects available to me. Extremely quiet too. Sound nice and smooth even with the raunchiest distortion effects.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I think my guitar just may be the most versatile on the planet, without too many compromises in any style.

Comments: On its own, I'd give the Blue Sensor a 7. Combine it with the middle Gold or the bridge D-150, and it becomes a 10.
The most important thing I like about my PU setup, is that it simply accentuates the great tone that my guitar naturally has. Unplugged, the Godin LGT has incredible harmonic overtones which are great for those "Goo Goo Dolls - style" open chords and drones. The AGI pickups keep the character of my guitar intact.
If I had the money to choose pickups for another guitar, I'd probably test out Duncans or Dimarzios for a neck pickup that I liked on its own but like I keep saying here, as long as I combine the Blue with the other pickups I have I'm totally in heaven.